Engaging Resilience

1. Engaging the Disengaged:
Practical Strategies from a
Positive Psychology Perspective
Marianne LoPresti, C. Psych. Assoc.
Patricia Marra-Stapleton, C.Psych. Assoc.
April 28,2009

2. Definition
• Resiliency is the ability to spring back from
and successfully adapt to adversity.
• One fifteen year old defined resiliency
thus: “bouncing back from problems and
stuff with more power and more smarts”
resiliency for life.com

3. Resiliency
• Research indicates that most people can
bounce back from crisis, stress and
trauma and experience life successes. It
appears that each person has an innate
capacity for resiliency that operates best
when they have resiliency building
conditions in their lives.

4. Features of Optimistic versus
Negative Thinkers
• Focus on solutions rather
problems (when change
is possible)
• Use acceptance and
humour
• More accurate about how
much control they have in
situations (even 5%
counts)

5. Features of Positive Thinkers
Cont’d
• Have more and stronger social support
• Have better immune functions
• Take better care of themselves
• Less likely to deny and avoid problems

6. Features of Optimistic Thinkers
Cont’d
• Move out of their comfort zone
• Learn from failure and find meaning in
setback.
• More likely to try new strategies when the
ones they are using aren’t working (self-
assessment and self-efficacy)

7. Rules Of Engagement
• Student’s remain in
school when the
environment is
supportive, inclusive, and
engaging. (B. Ferguson,
2005)
• Higher levels of school
connectedness
associated with Positive
Classroom Management
Climates (Journal of
School Health, 2002)

8. Rules of Engagement
• The BEST predictors of successful change
in students (Miller and Duncan 1997
analysis of research on resiliency and
change)
– 1) Engagement in a meaningful relationship
– 2) Engagement in meaningful activities
83% on change involves these 2 elements

9. Virtues and Character Strengths
1. Wisdom and Knowledge
• creativity
• curiosity
• open-mindedness
• love of learning
• perspective

10. Virtues and Character Strengths
2. Courage
• authenticity
• bravery
• persistence
• zest
3. Humanity
• kindness
• love
• social intelligence

11. Virtues and Character Strengths
4. Justice
• Fairness
• Leadership
• Team work

12. Virtues & Character Strengths
5. Temperance
• forgiveness
• modesty
• prudence
• self-regulation
6. Transcendence
• appreciation of beauty and excellence
• gratitude
• hope
• humour
• Religiousness/spirituality

13. ABC MODEL
Beliefs
About what caused it
About the implications
Consequences
Emotions and behaviour
that result from Beliefs and
Adversity
Adversity
Any problem
situation (big or
small)

14. Detecting IcebergsDetecting Icebergs
External Presentation of
an individual
How we Approach the World
Internal Processes
The Individual’s Experiences, Beliefs,
Feelings, Thinking Traps, Life Philosophy,
Values

15. ““If we think we are fragile and broken, weIf we think we are fragile and broken, we
will live a fragile, broken life. If wewill live a fragile, broken life. If we
believe we are strong and wise, we willbelieve we are strong and wise, we will
live with enthusiasm and courage. Thelive with enthusiasm and courage. The
way we name ourselves colours the wayway we name ourselves colours the way
we live. Who we are is in our own eyes.we live. Who we are is in our own eyes.
We must be careful how to nameWe must be careful how to name
ourselves.ourselves.”” Wayne MullerWayne Muller

16. Fostering Resiliency in Schools
1.Provide a caring, supportive learning
environment
• Feeling cared for and safe builds
students’/staff’s resiliency
• Promoting positive social connections
between staff members and students,
students and their peers, and home and
school, builds resiliency.

17. How to Reach the Disengaged
• Pay attention to and accentuate strengths.
• Use these strengths to connect to the
curriculum
• Make your Belief your paradigm “ From
wrong to strong” ( W. Hammond)

18. How to Reach the Disengaged
We can’t engage if we feel UNSAFE
Safe Environments Incorporate
• Trust
• Belongingness
• Fairness

19. Resiliency in Schools
2. Foster positive attitudes
• Help students believe that they can
succeed if they try.
• Provide situations in which students are
able to succeed
• Frame failure as a learning opportunity
• Teach them to re-evaluate and adjust
strategies that may not be working

20. Resiliency in Schools
3.Nurture positive emotions in students and
staff members
• Demonstrate and give students the chance to
practice positive emotions such as optimism,
respect, forgiveness and empathy.
• Staff members reinforce emotional intelligence,
praise students for successes, and avoid
judgments or harsh criticism for failure.

21. Resiliency in Schools
4.Foster academic self-determination and
feelings of competence
• Provide clear and consistent expectations
• Help students develop a menu of
homework and study strategies

22. Resiliency in Schools
4.Foster academic self-determination and feelings of
competence, cont’d
• Encourage students to regularly attend
school and complete homework as well as
develop talents in activities they enjoy.
• Teach students to set realistic goals and
obtain necessary resources
• Assist student in future planning/long term
goals setting

23. Resiliency in Schools
7. Healthy Habits
• Facilitate stress
reduction by
incorporating positive
stress control
strategies, such as
meditation, controlled
breathing, yoga, and
exercise into the
school curricula.

24. Fostering Resiliency/
Psychological Well-Being
Research has shown that resilience results
from:
• Positive social relationships
• Positive attitudes and emotions
• The ability to control one’s own behaviour
• Feelings of competence

25. Resiliency: Conclusions
• Resiliency is the ability to recover rapidly
from illness, change or misfortune.
• Building resiliency is a way of dealing with
stressful situations in a way that is also
helps you take the next step in your won
growth as a person

26. Resiliency: Conclusions
• Building your resiliency raises your
tolerance so that as you grow, things that
stressed you out in the past no longer
have the same hold on you.
• Building resiliency involves self-soothing
and self-confronting.

27. Quotes
“He who has a why to live for, can
endure any how.”
Victor Frankl, Psychiatrist
“Life is not a matter of holding good
cards , but of playing a poor hand
well”
Robert Louis Stevenson

28. Quotes
“ Character cannot be developed in peace
and quiet. Only through trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, vision be
insured and success achieved.”
Hellen Keller

29. Resources
www.raisingresilientkids.com/
www.askdrjami.org/pd/resiliency_high.pdf
www.oregon.edu/˜orp/publications.htm
www.fishfulthinking.com
www.resiliencyinitiatives.ca
www.resiliencyforlife.com

30. References
• United States Longitudinal Student of Adolescent Health
(Journal of School Health, 2002)
• Reivich, Karen & Shatte, Andrew; The Resilence
Factor, Broadway books,Copyright 2002.
• Seligman, Martin E. P. & Steen, Tracy A.; Positive
Psychology Program- empirical Validation of
Interventions, American Psychologist, July-August
2005, American Psychological Association

31. References cont’d
• Community Health Systems Resource Group, Hospital
For Sick Children. (2005) Early School Leavers:
Understanding the Lived Reality of Student
Disengagement From secondary School –Final Report
for the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training,
Special Education Branch
• Resiliency : Embracing a Strength Based Approach to
evaluation, Service Provision and Professional
Development , Dr. W. Hammond, Toronto, Ont., October
24, 2008